


this is st. patrick's

by SalomeWeil



Series: holiday season [8]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Beer, Brief mention of drugs, Brief mention of sex trafficking, F/M, Irish American culture, Irish heritage, Soda Bread, St. Patrick's Day, corned beef and cabbage, two idiots in love, whisky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:54:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23589493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalomeWeil/pseuds/SalomeWeil
Summary: Kylo is hosting another get together for a favorite holiday when the conversation is thoroughly derailed. Is it a stupid mistake, or a miracle that leads Rey into his arms? And what will he say when the shock of it all wears off?
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Phasma, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: holiday season [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/868821
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	this is st. patrick's

It was St. Patrick’s Day and even though it was a weeknight, Kylo’s apartment was full of people who were partying. He’d somehow had the time to find and hire a fiddler/mandolin duo and one of his guests was busy trying to teach several other people some basic Irish dance steps. There was a small keg of beer in the kitchen with another for reinforcements and several people, Rey included, had brought over crock-pots of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. Finn had deigned to make several loaves of soda bread and Kylo had been so happy he’d embraced the man.

Rey was spending most of the party in the kitchen, where Kylo kept busy pouring whisky, stout, and a few other concoctions. They’d been passing the evening talking about everything from the hideous green sweater Poe was wearing (it looked like the corpse of Oscar the Grouch); to why his mother had begged off the invitation Rey had insisted she receive to the party (Luke was staying with her for the week and Leia claimed - from previous experience - that no one wanted him at an Irish celebration); to whether Hux and Phasma would get a dog first or have a baby first (Rey thought for sure Phasma would rather get a dog than be a mother right away, but Kylo said Hux was a cat person and would rather have quintuplets than get a dog, but that conversation was derailed by Hux joining them in the kitchen).

Shortly after Hux’s appearance, the conversation turned into the red-head giving Kylo a hard time about his choice of holiday celebrations while Kylo gave Hux a hard time over not wanting to celebrate something that was practically a part of his family history. 

“For the last time, just because I have red hair does not mean I am Irish, you twit,” Hux mumbled around the lip of his beer bottle.

“Oh, come on. You know I’m right. What was your mother’s maiden name? O’Grady?”

“It was just Grady -”

“So her family abbreviated it when they immigrated,” Kylo argued. “Lots of Irish Catholics did. The prejudice back then -”

“Listen, this is your favorite holiday, Ren, not mine -”

“It’s your favorite holiday? I didn’t know that,” Rey interrupted, smiling. “Why is it your favorite?”

Hux rolled his eyes as if to say, here we go, while Rey settled against the counter, giving Kylo her full attention. He looked suspiciously grateful and considered the question seriously.

“Because…” Kylo’s voice trailed off as he tried to put in words something he’d only ever felt. “Because it’s about an outsider who takes the shit life he was given and turns it around so far that he helps an entire nation of people - the same people that took his freedom - and gives them their freedom in return.”

“What, through the Christ Child?” Hux murmured, always sarcastic, the bastard, and Kylo glared at him.

“No, through books, through education. Christianity may have been part of the reason behind all the learning, but it wasn’t what single-handedly expanded their civilization.” 

“Well it’s not as if that education -”

“Hux, stuff it!” Rey snapped suddenly. The red-head sneered, but picked up his Guinness and wandered away.

Kylo watched him go and his shoulders seemed to curve under an invisible weight. “He’s right. It’s a stupid fairytale of a holiday.”

“No, Kylo…”

He waved away her protest. “It is.  _ I’m  _ stupid.”

“Kylo -”

“I don’t know why I ever bother trying -”

“ _ Kylo _ !”

He looked up at her, effectively silenced by the hand she’d slapped over his mouth.

“You are not stupid. It is not stupid to like a holiday, or feel an affinity for someone dead and gone, or appreciate the ways it can connect you to other people, or inspire you, or...God, if you liking St. Patrick’s Day makes you stupid, what am I? I  _ love  _ the holidays. I love Hanukkah, and Christmas lights, and gathering around a big table together, and hoping...dreaming…” She took a breath. “Loving.”

Kylo let out the breath he’d been holding and then reached up to take her hand away from his mouth, but not before he’d kissed her palm. She was blushing all the way to the roots of her hair and he suddenly surged forward, capturing her lips under his.

“All right,” he said as he drew back. “All right. If it is stupid, I at least get to be stupid together. With you.” 

Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears, a little wider at the corners with the surprise she felt and he smiled at her. She smiled back.

He kissed her again.

“Rey, let’s get married.”

The words were like lightning, burning them to the spot, freezing the woman in his arms, and Kylo was certain that he never, ever should’ve gone there. He never should’ve begun waxing poetic about his favorite redemption story of all time, on his favorite holiday, to his favorite person, while he’d been drinking. 

Stupid decisions were bound to be made, stupid words said, stupid, stupid, stupid -

“Yes.”

“Rey -”

“I mean, of course.”

Kylo tried to work through his shock to figure out what sort of alternate reality he’d fallen into, because surely his beloved had not just  _ deigned _ -

“Of course you would ask me, the girl with the subpoena from your office, with the sealed juvie records, with the sex-trafficked, drug-dealt past, to marry you, off the cuff, when you’re  _ drunk _ -”

“Rey, that’s not -”

She pushed away from him and somehow, his stupid arms just fell back to let her exit.

“Kylo, you go to trial in a fucking week! You know how stressful this has been -”

“Rey, I’m not involved in it, you know that -”

“How could you joke about something like  _ that _ at a time like  _ this  _ -”

Understanding dawned over him and he managed to catch one of her wrists, tugging her back to him as gently as possible, hoping she couldn’t hear the panic he was feeling, hoping she didn’t interpret his slightly hysterical giggle at the absurdity of the situation as his mocking her.

“Rey, I would never - I wasn’t joking!”

“Kylo, you can’t just - what?”

Rey stopped short and stared up into his face as he leaned back against the counter again, resisting only slightly as he pulled her back to him. 

“How can you... _ married _ ?”

“Obviously not now,” he murmured, still a little dumbfounded, himself. “And I hadn’t planned on saying it, so I’m also obviously a little drunk, but...I would never say that and not mean it. Not with you.”

Rey drew her lower lip between her teeth, worrying it, and Kylo sucked in a low breath, then leaned forward and caught her lips under his. 

“Say yes,” he mumbled, pulling back enough to speak, to breathe, to revel in her breath, and sounds, and taste. 

Rey moaned against his mouth and he felt her hands come to rest on his shoulders. She was bracing herself, in more ways than one, and he felt reassured that she was using him to do it.

“If I said yes…”

“Yes, say it. You won’t regret it.”

She glanced down, then up at him again. 

“I have conditions.”

“Name them.”

And just like that, the great negotiator, the master of everything he surveyed and slave to none, Kylo Ren, lost his mind, heart, and soul. He was never going to deny her anything, he was going to always say yes to everything, he was going to give her her heart’s desire -

“First, no wedding. I want to elope.”

Kylo opened his mouth, his mind stuttering to a halt, along with all his good intentions. 

“Absolutely not.”

**Author's Note:**

> These two dumb babies. *dreamy smile* Regarding St. Patrick's Day...this is one of my favorite holidays, favorite countries, favorite subjects, favorite everything. If you're Irish, I love you. If you appreciate the Irish, I love you. If you think St. Patrick is the greatest or is just a myth, I love you. And when this pandemic has receded, I am getting back to Ireland, by all that is in my power. <3


End file.
